BEIJING (SCMP): An influencer with five million online followers went to her hometown dressed like a humanoid robot and was still introduced to men by village matchmakers, amusing many online.
The 30-year-old woman @Dalaotian had been dressing like a humanoid for months, and wowing her followers on social media with the stilted movements of a robot and her face which resembles that of a Japanese anime character.
Wearing a silver bodysuit that looks like the metal body of a robot, light blue cosmetic contact lenses, and a short bob wig, the woman who is more than 190cm tall often confused the audience who struggled to decide whether she was an android or a human.
In one video in which she dressed like a humanoid, she even successfully cheated the system to warn the users of potential artificial intelligence-generated content.
@Dalaotian said her face and breasts cost her more than one million yuan (US$140,000).
She favoured the doll-like face and sometimes dressed like Barbie.
On Jan 15, she posted a video of her returning to her rural hometown in southwestern China’s Sichuan province.
Looking slightly more human, the “robot” laughs and jokes with villagers. - Douyin
In the video, women in the village expressed curiosity about her style, touching her arms to check if she was human.
In other footage, the women fell over one another to ask her: “Do you have a boyfriend?”
One even dragged a young man to introduce her, making her laugh so much that her audience said they immediately could tell she was not a robot.
The question is a classic one that almost every young single Chinese person faces during the Spring Festival when they return to their hometown and meet their relatives once in a year.
Other classic questions from relatives include “What is your job?” and “How much do you earn a month?”.
Although finding the questions annoying, they have to reply politely to meet the expectations of older generations.
As a result, many young people choose to not go back to their hometown and stay where they work during the Lunar New Year period.
@Dalaotian also caught a chicken and swept her village home’s yard while copying the moves of a robot.
“I cannot believe that even a robot cannot escape being asked about marriage and work,” one online observer said.
“I thought that even robots needed to be found a match, until she laughed and revealed her real identity as a human,” said another. - South China Morning Post
